New year, new career? Setting up your own care business

Posted on 06/01/2016

As we enter 2016, the
new year is a good time to reflect on your career and the changes you might
like to make. If you already work within the care industry, or you would like
to, now is a really good time to think about setting up on your own.

Small ‘microproviders’
and individual paid carers working on a self-employed basis are absolutely
critical to the care industry. It is these community-based service providers
that self-payers and those receiving a Personal Budget turn to, to help get the personalised care
that they want. More and more, service users are becoming disillusioned with
large care agencies and residential facilities, increasing choosing to stay at
home in a familiar environment and receive one-to-one care.

There is certainly a
demand for such businesses and individual carers, especially as local councils
are working on low budgets that do not enable them to provide care services to
everyone that needs it, only those with a suitably high level of need.

Choosing to set up a
care business is certainly a challenge, even if you are not planning on hiring
staff. There are certain rules and regulations that you have to be aware of,
you need to have all of the right policies and procedures in place, and you
need a solid business plan to help you attract the right clients and turn a
profit.

Don’t let it put you
off though. There are certainly pros to working for yourself, as you can provide the services that you want
to provide, to the people in your local community that you care about, and it
can be a very rewarding career.

The first thing that
you need to do is sit down and start planning. You need to decide what kind of company you are going to set
up. This will largely
depend on whether you are working on your own or with others. Also depending on
the kind of care you will be supplying and the size of your business, you may
need to register with CQC, which means being aware of the fees that this will add to your budget.

You’ll need to come up
with a business plan, which will detail exactly what you want to
achieve, including the kind of care work you want to provide and to whom. You
will then need to pull together all the policies and procedures that you need, including contracts and
safeguarding to ensure that your clients are well looked after. You’ll also
need to think in detail about how you are going to attract your clients through
marketing.

In our Document Store, you will find all kinds of useful documents,
policies, contracts and guidance that have been created to help you set up your
business quickly and easily. We also offer a Payroll service, which could be essential if you plan on
hiring any staff as it takes one worry off your mind.

All this planning and
setup needs to be done before you take on your first client. The more organised
you can be, the more likely you business is to be a success. If you have a
question that is not answered within this article and the links throughout,
then feel free to contact us with your specific questions.